HOME PESTICIDE USE AND CHILDHOOD-CANCER - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

The association between childhood cancer and home pesticide Use was ex amined in a case-control study of children under 15 years of age. Pare nts of 252 children diagnosed with cancer in the Denver area between 1 976 and 1983 and of 222 control subjects were interviewed regarding us e of home pest extermination, yard treatment, and pest strips. The str angest associations were found for yard treatments and soft tissue sar comas (odds ratios [ORs] around 4.0) and for use of pest strips and le ukemias (ORs between 1.7 and 3.0). These results suggest that use of h ome pesticides may be associated with some types of childhood cancer.